Vincent van Gogh - The Blue Train Notebook

The Viaduct in Arles / The Blue Train (Vue du Viaduc à Arles / Le Train bleu), painted in 1888 in oil on canvas by Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Arles. A blue train crosses the viaduct beyond the fields outside Arles, while the low foreground is organized into strongly colored horizontal bands. Van Gogh reduced the railway, trees and landscape to clear shapes and rhythmic brushwork, giving an ordinary modern subject unusual visual energy. The painting reflects his fascination with the flat structure and decisive contours he admired in Japanese prints.